CNN Host Credits Fox’s Gutfeld with Network Shift to Comedy: ‘Lot of People Saw That and We’re Like, Oh, You Could Do This’

CNN has made a noticeable shift towards comedy recently, and one of their comedian hosts credited Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld for this change.

Comedian Amber Ruffin , alongside Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Ian Black , hosts the new satire series Have I Got News For You , which premieres this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. The comedic panel series is based on the hit BBC show of the same name. In addition to Have I Got News For You , CNN has also been airing encore presentations of comedian Bill Maher’s Real Time , which airs on HBO. This was an expansion on a recent deal that saw the network airing portions of the show on weekends.

Ruffin spoke to Vulture about her new gig and pointed to Gutfeld’s success as the reason for CNN’s shift, crediting him as the “beginning” of cable news comedy.

“I mean, I guess Gutfeld! was the beginning of it. [Laughs.] I think a lot of people saw that and were like, Oh, you could do this ,” the comedian explained.

Ruffin said she was initially surprised to hear the show would be for CNN, but said it makes sense because at the end of the day “news is hilarious.”

“It is interesting to just admit it: News is hilarious. It doesn’t matter what channel it’s on. So it was really cool of CNN to be like, ‘You know what? We can go ahead and let comedy seep all the way in’ — which is pretty cool,” she said.

While CNN’s jump into comedy marks a significant change for the network, Fox has long been experimenting with mixing satire and comedy with the news world, and Gutfeld has been the main person behind this push.

Gutfeld’s Gutfeld! has been a ratings juggernaut for Fox News and regularly beats or challenges the ratings brought in by traditional late-night programs on CBS, NBC, and ABC — though it does benefit from airing slightly earlier at 10 p.m. It’s been running since 2015 — then known as The Greg Gutfeld Show — and this year is currently it’s highest-rated ever.

Since its launch, Gutfeld’s show has increased its viewership by more than 80% overall and 38% in the coveted 25-54 demo. By contrast, late night overall has entered shaky ground, according to some critics, as NBC’s Jimmy Fallon was recently reduced to four nights a week, instead of five. Gutfeld! continues to run five nights a week.

Before Gutfeld! , Gutfeld hosted Red Eye from 2007-2015, a panel comedy show that aired at 3 a.m., a show far more edgy in content than anything else on the network, regularly bringing in a rotation of New York comedians to satirize the news. Fox also briefly tried their luck with a fully scripted satire series in 2007 with the short-lived The 1/2 Hour News Hour from 24 producer Joel Surnow , and Gutfeld’s success led to another comedian getting his own show with Jimmy Failla hosting Fox News Saturday Night on the weekends.